Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Yet Another Education Quotation Of The Day

Here’s the problem I think deserves billboard-level attention: Kids can’t be taught to think better using tests that can’t measure how well they think.

The logic should be obvious. What gets tested gets taught. Complex thinking skills — skills essential to survival—can’t be tested, so they don’t get taught. That failure doesn’t simply rise to the level of a problem. It’s unethical.

This quotation seems extremely appropriate on a day when the Argus Leaderreports that South Dakota Department of Education announced that it will not release test results as scheduled.

The Department of Education had planned to get results to the schools by last Friday and make them public today. But Mary Stadick-Smith, the deputy education secretary, cited issues with the system for the delay of the release.

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